


That Day at the Lake

by mos



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-13
Updated: 2017-04-13
Packaged: 2018-10-18 08:10:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10612800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mos/pseuds/mos
Summary: Just a little one-shot. Draco saves Hermione.





	

There were few places Hermione could find peace, and one of them was a lake in Ireland. It was not a large lake, but it was crystal blue and had a small stand of trees and scrub brush on one side and hills all around it. The water was icy cold, but when she strode in, she'd wait until her body was numb, and then she'd feel nothing.

Sinking below the surface of the water, the dark thoughts haunting her would drift away, the numbness releasing it. The lake was full of darkness.

When her body hit the bottom, that was when she'd open her eyes and look up, aware of her heartbeat and staying there, looking up at the shimmering, distorted surface until her lungs screamed for air.

Over and over she'd sink to the bottom, until she found peace. And she did. Every time.

Except the day that he came.

She didn't know it was him, not at first. She only knew a crash in the water and hands grabbing her, hands that she fought and a body that she kicked at until their heads broke the surface.

And when she recognized him, she was furious. _Draco Malfoy._

"What are you doing?" she demanded, sputtering and coughing, water painful up her nose. He looked ridiculous soaking wet. She noted that he was wearing plain clothes, sharp but casual, and in stark contrast to the dark circles under his eyes.

"Stopping you from killing yourself," he snapped back, his fury mirroring hers.

"I wasn't killing myself, you git." She started for shore, him following. "What are you doing here?"

"My family's house is over the hill." He was still glaring at her, soaking wet in his clothes and with flushed cheeks, whether from cold or anger or embarrassment she couldn't tell.

"It is not," she retorted. She knew perfectly well where his family's manor was. She'd been there when- when-

A door slammed shut on the memory.

"Our summer house," he replied, squeezing water from his sleeve and shooting another glare at her. "What were you doing?"

Her own cheeks flushed now, because there was no way that she was telling the likes of him of her private rituals, her internal struggles. "You wouldn't understand."

He regarded her for a long moment. "Wouldn't I?"

It had come out light, but despite that there was a strange undertone that told her he had darkness, too.

"Why did you do that?" she asked, as he began to stride angrily away. "You hate me."

"I owed you." He threw it over his shoulder, continued walking, and the door opened on the memory again, the glimpse of his face as Bellatrix had tortured her, the sickened look that had flashed over his features and the brief, slight raising of his wand before bowing his head.

He was right. He did owe her, because in that moment he'd been her only hope, and he'd turned away.

**Author's Note:**

> Wrote this a few years back and thought I'd share cuz I nearly lost my computer the other week and afterward I thought to myself, geez I wish I'd put that up. Always loved Dramione, and in my mind they get together in the future. :-)


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